Tiny Dancer [Divine Creek Ranch 13] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Heather Rainier

  Not letting him off the hook, Camilla nudged him gently with her shoulder. “Nice try, handsome. We’ll get to me later.”

  “My childhood was average, I guess. I didn’t understand that there were problems until I was a teenager. I thought that everyone’s dad drank until he fell asleep in his chair every night. He worked and provided a home for us. Was usually a pretty nice guy. Funny as hell when he was drunk. When I was a teenager, it got hard for him to hold down a job because he was drinking during the day, too. Mom had to get a job to supplement his income, and eventually, she became the sole breadwinner. I got angry when I saw what it did to her. She’d always seemed a little frail, but being the main support was hard on her physically and emotionally.”

  He never went home for holidays, so Camilla worried what had become of them.

  “One winter, she developed bronchitis and couldn’t kick it. She wound up in the hospital.”

  “Oh, no.”

  “Dad didn’t have a job. I came home from school, and he was asleep on the couch. There was a message on our answering machine from one of the nurses at the hospital in Ozona, where we lived. She’d collapsed at work and had been rushed to the emergency room. I didn’t have my driver’s license yet. He woke up while I was listening to the message again and was pretty upset when he heard it. I remember being so pissed off at him and felt like he didn’t have a right to suddenly be upset. I yelled at him that it was his fault she was sick. He looked at me like I’d pulled the rug out from under him and insisted he could drive us to the hospital.”

  Ben paused again as though he was reliving those moments, and Camilla waited, bracing herself for whatever he’d gone through, her heart aching for him. She didn’t hear anger when he talked about his mom and dad. She heard love and loss in his voice, and she couldn’t help but respond.

  “He wanted to take care of things?”

  “As best as he could, I guess. Against my better judgment, I let him drive us to the hospital. I could’ve talked sense to him and stopped him, but I was so worried about Mom and needed to check on her. He cried when he got behind the wheel, like it just all came crashing down on his shoulders. He confessed to me that he was an alcoholic. It was his fault she had to work so hard, and also his fault she’d worked herself until she’d gotten sick. It wasn’t very mature, but I gave him the silent treatment, just fuming the whole way to the hospital.”

  “How old were you?”

  “Fifteen.”

  She wasn’t holding immaturity at that age against him.

  “He swore to me that he’d get himself into treatment. I sat there taking it all in, wondering how I should respond. The only dad I knew was drunk dad. I didn’t know if I could believe him.”

  “Did he get into treatment?”

  “No.” Ben paused briefly, let out a deep sigh, and continued in a gravelly voice. “On the way to the hospital he passed out behind the wheel, and the car slammed into a tree. I was buckled in, but he was ejected through the front windshield.”

  Camilla wrapped her arm around his waist and whispered, “I’m so sorry, Ben.”

  Ben kissed the top of her head and forged on as though he needed to get it over with. “I woke up in the hospital with broken ribs, and my right arm and my left leg were both in casts. I was a mess. By that point, my mom was in the intensive care unit. I went to her as soon as they let me out of that hospital bed. My grandparents came, which helped, I guess. They were with me when my mom and I found out from the doctors that Dad was dead. Killed on impact.”

  Camilla stroked his arm but remained silent.

  “I saw the light that remained in her go out. She was so weak, and losing Dad took all the fight out of her. He hadn’t taken good care of her, but she’d still loved him. I was fifteen, but I could see what was happening. I hung on to the fact that she still had me, still had a reason to live, but she died two days later.”

  A single tear rolled down his cheek before he smiled at her and wiped it away.

  “I’m sorry, Ben.”

  He put his arm around her shoulders, squeezed her to him, and cleared his throat before continuing. “So I went home with my grandparents, who lived here in Divine, and they finished raising me. Remember I said I was a mess?” At her nod, he continued, “I was on crutches, and was suffering the loss of both parents. My grandparents had a neighbor who had a kid my age. He already had a truck, a beat-up old Chevy. He came over one day and introduced himself, offered to let me ride with him to school once I was well enough to start back. I was pretty withdrawn, but he didn’t mind. He was a good friend. So were his cousins.”

  “Who was he?” she asked, having a feeling she knew exactly who he was talking about.

  “Ethan Grant.”

  Camilla smiled and chuckled. It figured. Anyone could tell that Ben and Ethan were close and went way back.

  “After high school we went to college and then returned to Divine. We’d had this silly dream of owning our own saloon when we were teenagers, so we could get lots of chicks.”

  A giggle slipped from Camilla, and she felt an answering rumble against her shoulder as he chuckled. “Did it work?”

  “Oh, yeah. I got the best one of all.”

  “I think Ethan might argue with you on that point.”

  “So, now you understand why it is such a big deal to me that we take good care of you, that you never work yourself to the point of burnout. My dad admitted he’d neglected Mom, forced her to work past her point of endurance. He never got the chance to make it better or to make it up to her. I never want to be in that position.”

  “You’re not your dad.”

  “He wasn’t a bad man. He was just a drunk. Not a malicious bone in his body. But in the end, he hurt us both. My mom most of all.”

  “I’m so sorry, Ben. Thank you for telling me. For trusting me. This explains a lot.”

  “A lot about what?”

  “Why my safety is such a huge issue. Why you are so protective of me, even willing to risk pissing me off to keep me safe. You felt completely powerless and out of control back then, didn’t you? Yeah, this definitely explains it.”

  “What?”

  “Don’t ‘what’ me, Mr. Control Freak.” Camilla elbowed him gently, her loving gaze softening her words. “If you’re in control, then you think the people you care about can’t be hurt.”

  “I wish that was the case. Yeah, I guess you’re right. If I’d been older or said something to Dad sooner, maybe none of that would’ve happened. I know. I know. It’s in the past.” He glanced at her and smiled, and she had the sense that he liked her knowing about his vulnerabilities. “Of the three of us, Quinten is the only one with both parents still living. You’ll like them, and I know they’ll love you. His mother despaired of Quinten ever leaving his gigolo lifestyle.”

  Camilla covered her mouth as she erupted in giggles, and Ben told her about visits with Quinten’s parents until he pulled into the driveway at the ranch.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Early November…

  Camilla placed opened beer bottles on the bar before her three big, handsome friends at The Dancing Pony. She waved off their money when Cody, Heath, and Spencer pulled out their wallets.

  “I’m buying. I have a proposition for you guys.”

  Ben and Quinten came and stood beside her.

  Cody, Heath, and Spencer gave her their attention, and Heath replied, “What did you have in mind, Camilla?”

  She smiled at him when he used her proper name rather than her stage name. “I’m opening my own nightclub, The Twisted Bull, and Chantilly’s, a steakhouse next door. I want to hire the three of you as security.”

  Cody glanced at the men flanking her and tilted his head as though he was concerned. “All on your own?”

  She placed her hands around Ben and Quinten’s shoulders. “Meet my partners.”

  Ben added, “Mostly silent. She’d be the boss lady.”

  Camilla looked at Ben and let him take it from
there. This was his idea anyway. “We would want you to start before the club actually opens. The renovation is starting soon, and frequently she’ll be working there, setting the business up. We’ll still be needed here, but her hours at The Bull will increase as the opening gets closer. When she’s at the other location, she needs someone watching over her.”

  Spencer raised an eyebrow. “Is there something we don’t know?”

  Ben explained the events of the last few weeks, and that Hank had very few leads so far, and Camilla noticed that her three friends all looked a little riled. Cody said, “Can we give it some thought?”

  Ben reached out and shook hands with them. “Of course. If you’re interested, we’d let Camilla hammer out the details with you. You’d pick your paychecks up from us here at The Pony for the time being.”

  After they were done with the business part of the conversation, Ben and Quinten excused themselves to return to work, leaving her to speak privately with her friends.

  Cody said, “I had no idea, Cami—sorry, Camilla. You’re lucky you didn’t get hurt.”

  “Personally, I think it’s overkill to hire bodyguards because I’d rarely be alone, with all the workmen there, but Ben and Quinten insisted. Do you have a better offer from someplace else?” She was curious why they hadn’t jumped right on it because that sort of work was right up their alley.

  “Well…” Heath began to say, and Camilla got a funny feeling she’d missed something. It was unusual to see her normally playful, teasing friend acting so uncomfortable. She glanced at the three of them and noticed they all seemed a little discomfited.

  Spencer looked into her eyes, and her heart dropped a little. Despite his strength and his sheer size, Spencer’s emotions had always showed in his eyes, at least for her they did. When she’d greeted them the second time they’d come in the club, and had directed them over to the table of single girls, she’d thought that was what they’d been looking for. How could she have so misjudged a situation?

  Ever the leader of the three, Cody said, “The job sounds great, but we were hoping for a chance to…talk with you, first.”

  She’d viewed them as off-limits for so long, and because she’d seen them never lack for female companionship, it’d never occurred to her that they might’ve carried a torch for her all that time. She was about to be the bad guy, and her heart ached as she tried to formulate the words she needed to say.

  “Ben and Quinten have asked me to move in with them permanently…and I agreed.”

  All three men smiled, but it didn’t quite reach their eyes. Their disappointment was palpable. Spencer even turned his golden eyes away for a moment. A lump grew in her throat.

  Cody’s dark, dark brown eyes were sincere as he said, “Congratulations, sweetie. Your men are very lucky. You can count on us to keep you safe when we’re needed. We also know a few guys who are reputable and skilled if you need extra security at the opening.” Of course, that big, loving bear of a man would try to make it as easy as possible for her.

  She needed to make it right somehow, but she felt at a loss.

  “Guys…” Her voice caught and a lump formed in her throat.

  She looked from one to the other of them, reliving for a split second the night Cody and Spencer had rescued her when she’d been pulled from the stage at the Dollhouse by a drunken customer. They’d been on top of the situation in seconds. All she’d suffered had been the fright of falling from the stage into the drunk’s lap and a slightly strained knee.

  She also recalled the seriousness in Cody and Heath’s demeanor when they’d later asked her out for the three of them and she’d had to turn them down because they were coworkers.

  The three had always shown her affection, like with the other dancers, but they’d always made her feel a little special, particularly Spencer. Looking into his beautiful, light-colored eyes, she felt heartsick. She couldn’t do anything about the hurt she’d seen there, and she closed hers against the tears that burned behind her eyelids.

  One of them made a disgruntled noise, but she couldn’t look up as she sniffled. Her cheeks grew hot, her lips wouldn’t stop trembling, and damn it, her nose was starting to run. A paper napkin from the stack on the bar came into her line of sight, and she took it gratefully. After she wiped the tears and blew her nose, she looked up at them. Her throat ached and trembled. There were not three nicer, sweeter, more protective, or lovable men in the world, and there she was hurting them.

  “Cami,” Spencer whispered as he slid his hand over hers, grasping it affectionately. His voice was made even deeper by emotion. “It hurts me more to see you upset than anything else.”

  “Me, too, sweetie. Please don’t cry,” Heath whispered as he leaned close.

  Cody took her other hand. In his no-nonsense, gritty voice, he said, “I don’t think we ever fully gave up hope that you’d see us as more than friends someday—”

  Camilla tasted salt on her lips when she licked them and said, “But all the other dancers. They all loved you and…”

  Heath chuckled. “They did, didn’t they?” Leave it to Heath to try to lighten the mood. “But they weren’t special. You were special.”

  Her heart clenched again.

  Cody elbowed Heath. “Hey, asswipe, you’re making her feel worse. Cami, what he’s trying to say is that you are special, and you always will be, to us. You made a good choice. Ben and Quinten seem like great guys, and I know they’ll take care of you. We would love to work with you, and we’ll do our best at the job. How long has this trouble you’re having been going on?”

  “A couple of weeks.”

  They all bristled when she described what had happened to her house and her car, which unfortunately, because it was a four-year-old used vehicle, her insurance company had declared a total loss and given her fair market value for it.

  “I was really attached to that car.”

  “Crying shame,” Cody growled. Of the three, he was the muscle car buff so he would understand how she felt. “You getting another one like it?”

  “Of course. New, this time.”

  Heath took a sip from his beer and then asked, “Are there any leads in the case?”

  She felt frustrated as she replied, “None so far. Something doesn’t sit right about it, but I haven’t figured out what that is.”

  In his usual no-nonsense fashion, Spencer said, “We’ll be on the lookout, starting now.”

  “Thank you.”

  The tension had dissipated enough that she could speak without tearing up, so she took the opportunity. “There’s a beautiful woman out there, and she needs three big, handsome bears. She’ll walk into your life someday and throw all three of you for a loop.”

  Heath grinned at Cody on his right, and Spencer on his left. “She still calls us the bears. I wish this gal would show up. I’m not getting any younger.”

  Cody chuckled. “Losing your damned youthful glow.”

  Heath raised his bottle and extended his middle finger to Cody as he lifted it to his lips.

  Camilla giggled and opened another one for him and placed it in front of him as he thanked her. “For all you know, you may have already met her.”

  Spencer shrugged and asked, “So when do we get started, boss lady?”

  * * * *

  Quinten passed the bedroom in Camilla’s little house and paused in the doorway. She was sitting on her haunches in her closet, sorting through the contents of a box. She sighed, braced her elbow on one of the filled boxes, and tucked her hair behind her ear. Quinten stepped into the mostly empty room and looked in on her.

  “You okay?”

  “Hmm? Yeah. Just tired.” To Quinten, she seemed just a little beyond tired. She’d awakened during the night, screaming as she struggled in the grips of a nightmare. Her terrified cries had startled both him and Ben from a sound sleep, and she’d had tears in her eyes as they’d comforted her until she’d come fully awake. She’d said she was being chased by someone she couldn’t see
and it had taken her a while to settle enough to fall back asleep.

  “All this packing can wait, Camilla. I don’t want you burning the candle at both ends. You didn’t sleep well last night, either. And here we are working on our day off.”

  She smiled at him and took his hand when he offered to help her up. “I’d rather get this move behind me. I was just wondering about keeping so much when I’ve done without it just fine.”

  “We can always take a load to Goodwill for you.” Quinten looked in the box that she’d been going through. “Hey, is that a flogger?” He reached in the box and lifted out what was, indeed, a rabbit fur flogger. Beneath it was another one with numerous strands of dark gray suede. The handles looked like an exotic dark wood, and expensive. He turned to Camilla. “You’re not thinking of getting rid of these, are you? What if you change your mind?”

  It was on the tip of his tongue to say he wasn’t sure if Goodwill stores had a BDSM supplies department or not. Her mood called for caring, not humor.

  From talking to Ethan and Joseph Hazelle, he had a good understanding what she’d gotten from being a submissive. Joseph had explained that it gave her an outlet for dealing with her abandonment issues and her subsequent need to be in control of her life. It had come as a surprise when Joseph had told them that, to his knowledge, she’d never had a relationship with a full-time, trained Dom. She’d been a member of his club, along with Brandon, and had served him as a sub on occasion but their relationship had been a professional one, and not sexual at all. Quinten had been able to see the affection with which Joseph had spoken of her and had never doubted his word on the issue.

  Because of his concern for her, Joseph had shared that information with Ben and Quinten with the hope that if she ever changed her mind they’d want to make sure she got what she needed. Quinten believed that unresolved feelings over Brandon kept her from returning to the lifestyle.

  More than anything, he wanted for her to have whatever she needed. “Baby…” She took the floggers from him and dropped them in the box and closed the closet door. “If you ever need to…”